Inevitability
by Dust in the Light-Crisi
Summary: He's insufferable and cocky and she's headstrong and overly proud. They mix about as well as baking soda and vinegar. But they're forced to depend on one another to survive...as long as she doesn't kill him first. First of a series of Thuke snap-shots
1. Swamps

**This is the first of a series of oneshots I've created, based on the years Luke, Thalia and Annabeth were traveling together and onward. They range from about 300 words to plus minus 2k (with this one being one of the longest ones) and are largely Thuke. I've long been obsessed with this coupling and just started pumping these out one day completely randomly.**

**Most of them are from either Luke or Thalia's perspective but there are a few that are from other characters**' **perspectives.**

****Also, as I tend to do, I've made a soundtrack for this entire story. I consider the theme to be Where We Belong by Thriving Ivory. I may post another chapter to list what the other songs are for the entire series but yeah. ****

**Warnings: Some cruder language but no swear words(in this one.) Mostly rated T because I'm paranoid.  
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**I place this as being about a month after Thalia ran away from home, so she's nine. Luke is eleven and has been on the run for two years on his own.**

**Disclaimer: I'd likely be posting this as a book if I was Rick Roirdan. In other words no, I don't own Percy Jackson.  
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**Anyways enjoy!**

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><p>Swamps, she decides, must be the most hostile, agonizing environments Gaea in her infinite sadism created. They're the armpits of the world. Scratch that, she thinks as another gas bubble explodes in front of her, sending a fist of foulness to assault her nose and burn her eyes. They're worse than that. In fact, she'd much rather have her nose permanently lassoed to her own armpit by the coarse hair growing from it than ever be force to trudge through these murky silted depths again. At least she wouldn't feel like a billion eyes were watching her unblinkingly and every corner she turns and splash she hears makes her heart thump for fear that its some scaly beast from the depths come to devour her.<p>

She's wet. She's cold. She's near exhausted from fighting. She's muddier than she's ever been in her life and that's saying a lot since she's not a girl afraid of getting a little dirty. And she's more than a little lost and scared, although it would be a painful blow to her pride to admit either even in her mind. But she's also alive and she's alive because she's smart. She figures that the smell of the rotting vegetation might hide her for a few hours and while the bacteria could prove nasty and give her a killer infection in the cut she got from that harpy a fortnight ago, she had needed to get away from the troop of giants chasing her.  
>She needed time to recuperate and this was the only place that seemed like it could promise some reprieve, provided she find a clearing she could rest in. She had been confident that this requirement wasn't too much of a stretch. That was almost four hours ago. She'd been trying to find a patch of somewhat solid and at least semi dry land for about two-and-a-half hours…well, it had seemed like a good idea at the time anyways. The sun long reached its peak in the sky and was now rapidly sinking below the ever-darkening canopy.<p>

She needed to find some place to rest and some cover soon. Preferably before she became even more of a walking buffet for the mosquitoes hallowing above her head of spiky black hair. She was wearing bug spray and an intentionally-added coating of mud in the most troublesome areas but they were still bespeckling her arms with itchy red swollen bumps.

She prodded the ground in front of her with her walking stick, dismayed when it sank about a foot in the sodden earth. Her feet made a loud smacking sound that she was painfully conscious of as she dredged it up from the thick mud to take another step. But then she paused for a moment as she realized that there was more sound than her two booted feet should produce on their own. Sure enough, even with her frozen (yet sinking into the mud like it was slow quicksand) another shmuck was audible above the croaking of frogs and the buzzing bugs. It was distant and halted just moments after she did, but she was certain she wasn't being paranoid this time. This time she actually heard something.

It might have just been more swamp gas releasing in a gurgle (or even her own jagged inhaling), but she thought she heard semi-labored breathing. Both sounds pointed in the same direction: behind her. Someone…or something…was shadowing her. Her mind went about imagining some awfully haunting things it could be and she could feel her heart beat quicken as her hand slid to the dagger on her belt (she procured it from that harpy the other day but not before it took a juicy chunk out of her thigh.) Quietly as the slurping mud and shing of metal would allow, she drew her weapon, the tang of the blade catching a hint of sun and shimmering lustfully. As if it sensed blood and a fight coming.

Abandoning whatever pretense of surprise she'd otherwise think she had, she gave off a loud savage yell and raced toward where the sound was coming from: a misted humanoid figure. She was surprised when a slightly longer blade caught hers and effectively parried then thrust hers downward. The hilt slid from her grasp in a follow-up thrust. Unfazed, she used the momentum to her advantage in a blind kick that sent her opponent sprawling into the water with a splash. She knelt over and yanked her blade back from the sloppy earth and moved in for the kill.

Only to find it wasn't a monster. It was a boy, a good two years older than her from the looks of him. At least, she thought it was a boy from his build. His entire face was obscured thanks to the muck. He was just staring up at her, two white eyes poking through the grime and his jaw agape. One hand supported his weight, the other still held his weapon—celestial bronze as the harpy had tauntingly told her—out in case she decided to attack.

She should really. She could never be too careful and trusting strangers had gotten her burned before. But this boy didn't look threatening. Hell, he didn't even look all that competent with his weapon, like he was just getting use to using it. Little did she know looks can be deceiving, such the case here was. But he had this wild, familiar gleam in his eye. Where was it familiar? She wondered briefly before it clicked. That look was what she saw last time she looked in the mirror. He looked…like he was just like her.

"Who are you?" She asked, surprised at how dry her mouth was.

He blinked once, sitting a little straighter and wiping some of the mud from his cheek. He didn't answer.

A bit miffed, she angled her blade downward a bit more, as if to remind him she had the higher ground. "Who are you?" She repeated in a deadly tone.

"None of your concern. Although I'd certainly like to know who you think you are?" He had a sort of cocky tang to his voice, as though she was the one on her back and stuck in the mud. But before she could piece together just why that was, he gave her a demonstration. So swiftly she barely realized what was going on, he swept her legs out from under her while simultaneously getting to his feet and slapping the dagger from her hand. He even managed to smoothly catch it by the hilt in his opposite palm while she panted wide-eyed at him.

"My turn to ask. Who are you and why did you attack me?"

She wiped the swamp mud from her lips so she could speak. "Attack you? You were stalking me! What else was I supposed to do?"

The corner of his lip twinged. "So what if I was? You're kind of easy to follow with all the ruckus you make."

Thalia felt a shot of hot indignant anger at his words. How dare he? Taking a cheep shot at her pride like that, never mind that it was the truth. Still rude to say so. The air around her cracked loudly, as it always did when she got this pissed. He didn't seem to even notice he offended her, too busy running his grimy finger across her dagger in his palm. Admiring it. She was just about to roar back an insult (possibly coupled with a few volts of electricity) when he laughed.

"I thought so. You're a halfblood aren't you?" Her eyes widened at the mention, her powers cutting off like they'd come unplugged. Then they narrowed in suspicion. She'd been called a halfblood before. By many of the various monsters she ran into. In fact, other than a few scattered comments from the narrow selection of more benevolent Greek creatures she'd met, that was the only time she got called halfblood. Yet this boy looked normal enough but then so had that harpy. Until it morphed into chicken-woman and tried to peck her eyes out for horderves. As his expression brightened hers did the inverse.

"It's okay. I'm one too. Name's Luke, son of Hermes. What's yours?" She hadn't expected that one but even still she didn't readily answer.

"If you are who you say," She started finally, "then you'll let me up and give me my weapon back."

"Luke" scratched the back of his neck, thinking for a moment. "Well, see, thing is, I can't really do that. I get the sense that if I do you're going to either attack me or leave and well, don't you think we'd survive longer if there were two of us?"

Was he honestly suggesting they team up? Thalia scoffed at the idea, even as "Luke" lowered his weapon and extended his hand downward to help her up. He tossed his head and gave her what she supposed he thought was a winning smile. She pushed his hand away. Yeah, right. This kid was insufferable. She wasn't trusting her back to this imbecile. For all she knew he was a monster in disguise wanting to toy with her before it ate her. "No thanks. I'll take my chances alone."

"Luke" drew back a step, his expression hardening slightly. He testingly flicked her blade, still firm in his palm. "Well, you're not going to get this back in that case. I think I'll keep it. It has a better balance."

He tucked both weapons way and turned his back to her and started trudging through the swamp.

"Wait, you're just going to leave me here without a weapon?"

"I won it from you. Fair's fair." He called back over his shoulder. "See you later...if you live that long."

Thalia bit her lip. She wouldn't survive long without a weapon. She supposed he probably knew that. In other words, "Luke" wasn't taking no for an answer.

"Styx." She cursed aloud and begrudgingly followed him.

He paused for a moment, allowing her time to catch up. "Glad you see things my way." She knew she didn't imagine the smug smile stamped across his stupid face.

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><p><strong>You'll notice of course Thalia does not have her spear or Aegis yet. I do have plans for whenhow I'm going to bring those into the story. **

**Anyways, drop a review and keep on the look out for the other oneshots yet to come! I'm undecided on whether I'll group them on the same story or post them individually, although I have one that I would consider needing an M rating...**

**~Crisi**


	2. Promise

**Second one and I've finally decided what I'm going to do with this story. This will more or less be a five shot mini-story that sets up the other ones** **hereafter. **

**Anyways, enough yammering.**

**Enjoy!**

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><p>Luke yawns lazily, eyes closing lightly. It's been a couple nights since he picked up his less than wanted but much needed companion and they're a good distance away from that accursed swamp finally. He swears he could still smell the fetid odor of that place until early this morning when they crossed over county lines and into a more(barely) civilized part of Louisiana.<p>

Their little camp boasts a smokeless fire and a flimsy tent that's really a blanket stretched over and secured with a couple pointy sticks. His stuff is on the left side while hers remains bunched up in the corner as far away from him as possible, which is her general attitude toward him as well at night. Even when it hit mid forties last night she still remained on the far side of the tent. He didn't push it. After all, he had a much thicker sleeping bag and he actually did pretty well last night.

He's eaten already…a nearly bag of Doritos he picked up (stole) from a convince store resting across his lap while Thalia roasts a pigeon she managed to snare somehow or another (just plain old gross in his opinion but to each his/her own.)

He hears some rustling and sighs. "You know, not only is it rude to rifle through someone else's belongings, but I'm pretty sure that would be stealing."

He perks an eye open and smiles smugly. Caught her red handed rifling through his stuff. Again.

"You were the one who stole it from me in the first place." She counters.

"Not true. I won it fair and square. Rules of engagement." He says as he draws out the weapon in question, letting it catch the firelight. He's kept it on him since he caught her trying to make out the bag the first time. She's pouting and glaring of course. She's perpetually always glaring at him. It's nothing new and while it was a little intimidating at first he's gotten used to it.

"I never agreed to that." She complains, her eyes gone all squinty like they always do when she's angry.

"Too bad. Cry me a river." He responds, flicking the dagger.

"So what? You're just going to leave me defenseless when a monster attacks?" She asks.

"No…but I need some insurance." He says. It's been almost disturbingly quiet so far on the monster front. Which is strange since Luke's scent alone usually attracts at least one monster every couple days and he's pretty sure Thalia is the daughter of an extremely powerful god. (Though he's undecided who her godly parent is and she's not exactly forthcoming.)

"What? You think I'm just going to leave the moment I get my hands on a weapon?" Thalia bluffed. Luke gave her a look.

"Yes. Yes I do." Thalia didn't readily deny it, instead she huffed and plopped down by the fire and started stripping the meat off the bird.

"You know, you can't keep me here forever." Thalia says, taking a bite of her meager meal. Luke shrugs.

"Hoping one day I won't have to." Luke responds.

Thalia scoffs. "Like that'll ever happen."

Luke sits up. "Listen, I'll make a deal with you. I'll let you have this back when you can take it from me unarmed yourself. And I don't mean picking it off me while I sleep either. And then I'll leave you to do as you wish."

"Oh and that's all." Thalia remarks sarcastically, but she lets the topic drop.

For now...

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><p><strong>There's a definite chance this one will be edited, as I wrote it in less than an hour. <strong>

**Also, check out the other story I'm posting tonight. It's Thuke heavy, but the rating is going to be M because I'm paranoid(nothing real graphic happens it just mentions some M themes)  
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**~Crisi**


	3. Respect

**Just realized th****ere's a pattern with these oneshots. Luke's so far have been relatively short while Thalia's are long. Of course, t****his is chapter I wouldn't alter for the life of me. Why? This is Thalia and Luke's first fight together.**

**Plenty of little Thuke seeds here and t****here you're going to see this chapter. I'm act****ually quite proud of this fight scene.**

**Enjoy!**

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><p>"Thalia, Thalia. Wake up." His voice comes in and she's caught between worlds. You know, that feeling where you want to sleep on but are semi-conscious of what's going on around you. She groans and turns over, damn intent on ignoring him in favor of a little extra sleep. Even if it's only a couple seconds, she was getting revenge on the jerk for practically forcing them together.<p>

She's curling into herself further, ignoring his persistent shakes to her shoulders, when BOOM! The sound of something very large—or rather a couple of somethings—snaps her eyes open and she lets out a string of curses as she shoots to her feet. She'd thought she was rid of them damn it! But she sees their fat heads cresting over the tree line like some stupid parody of the sun—which is conspicuously absent at this hour of the night. As is the moon.

But giants are notorious for their bad site. It was their sense of smell that was the problem. Or at least that was the case for these two. They were like bloodhounds, tweaking their noses up into the air. Whiffing and scenting her. And they'd tracked her somehow, out of the swamps and into the sparse forest they'd bedded in for the night. Nearest she could gather they were brothers and they'd like nothing more than to snack on demigods like French fries, maybe with a little salt, grease, and ketchup.

"Girl! Come out! We make it quick if you give up!" One of them bellowed, his voice producing so many decibels of sound it nearly popped out her eardrums.

"No we not. Gator bit toe because you." The other one replied.

"You not sposed tell her that!" Ear-bleeder reprimanded his brother, shoving him over and snapping several branches in the canopy. Leaves rained down from just above Thalia as she and Luke kept to the back of the large boulder they'd set up camp beside. Thalia was now thankful for the cover it provided.

"I sorry. Hey girl! I just kidding. Quick snap you feel nothing." The idiot brother amended. As if that were a better option even if she didn't already know he was lying. Luke wordlessly passed off her weapon, which she took gratefully as the trunks of Gator-toe came into sight. Finally. She'd felt naked without it over the last couple of days. She smirked as she twirled the hilt in her hand; its grip cool and familiar. Reassuring.

Thalia was moving before Luke even realized she was gone. She'd dealt with these bozos before. Maybe she hadn't beaten them but she'd still fended them off enough to slow them down. And that was injured. Her leg was finally healing now and she could maneuver much better when she didn't have to grit her teeth every step. Her dagger carves into the giant's ankle, cutting the tendon and sheering monstrous muscle from bone that fell off and turned to dust. Gator-toe roared and kicked out at Thalia but she managed to roll backwards, safely out of reach.

She attacked the other leg next and this time with Luke's help. The giant bellowed as his knees threatened to buckle, but Luke and Thalia kept thrusting their weapons into its lower leg. A hand tried to grab her but Thalia just viciously sliced off a fingertip with a blow that in all honesty shouldn't have been possible with a dagger…that is if she wasn't a demigod.

"No fair! You cheating! Have other!" _Yeah, well, screw you hypocrite, _Thalia thinks. He didn't have a problem with teaming up on her when she was all by herself. Yet just because the fight was even now _she_ was cheating? Please.

"Yeah she cheat, cheat, cheat. That why she still alive." The other one added.

The problem was, his minutely smarter brother chose that moment to join the fray. Simply the gust of wind sent up by his feet was enough to knock Thalia off her feet and he tried to stomp on her but she rolled out of the way and into his other hairy foot. Ear-Bleeder was smarter about fighting than his brother and started to raise his other foot to stamp on here but she latched onto the course hair (ew) on it and rode the foot up till he stomped downward again.

She couldn't maintain her grip and was sent sailing through the air, hitting the nearby boulder hard enough to knock the wind out of her, but it would likely only bruise. Luke, she faintly realized, had managed to rend the other giant's foot off entirely and the stupid creature wobbled for a moment before toppling forward onto his brother's far foot.

"OW!" The giant hopped up and down on his feet the way a human might when after dropping a bowling ball on their foot. Luke didn't wait for things to clear up. He was at the giant's head, gouging out its eyes and scraping its pudgy face for all it was worth.

"Watch out!" Thalia shouted. Ear-bleeder turned his attention on Luke as Gator-toe started to disintegrate. He backhanded Luke, sending him flying against a nearby tree. "Luke!"

Thalia was at his side instantly. His breathing sounded a bit caught and based on the way his chest caved in at the wrong areas she guessed he'd broken a couple ribs but he was conscious, staring up at her with bleary eyes. "He slapped me…" Luke said, dazed.

Thalia might have laughed if he didn't let out a little gasp of pain as he spoke. She might laugh anyways…maniacally that is. Behind them, the giant was looking for his brother. Seemingly unaware that he was dead already. Gone back to Tartarus. Where he belongs. But the big giant didn't seem to agree. He called out for his brother, big blubbering tears raining down and splashing Thalia. Again, Thalia might have felt bad if…well no she didn't feel bad. Not at all.

"Think you can stand up?" Thalia asks, her eyes flickering between him and the giant.

"Maybe." Luke tries to get to his feet and succeeds, although he winces slightly and clutches his left side. "At least he didn't get my good side."

"You don't have a good side." Thalia retorts.

"Hey yes I—never mind that now. What are we going to do about him?" Luke says, gesturing to the giant whose looking under the boulder as if he expects his brother to be under there. Thalia looks up.

"I have an idea. Give me a boost?" Luke cups his hands together without another word and she puts one foot in them, using his shoulders to help balanced herself out but feeling horrible about the amount pain it's causing him. It doesn't matter for long. She leaps up and catches a low hanging branch and skitters up the tree like a squirrel. Only problems that old feeling pestering her but she ignores it. Now is not the time to be a fraidy cat. Besides, it's not that high. Especially if she doesn't look down.

"What now!" Luke calls just in time to see the giant straitening up and looking around for his playmates.

"Get his attention." Thalia answers as she continues higher. She'll have one shot at this.

"Great. I play decoy." Luke mutters before shouting loudly. "Hey ugly! Ever tried Bossley medical? You have hair everywhere but your head!"

…Luke's an idiot Thalia thinks. But it does the trick and the giant bellows incomprehensively and runs toward him arms spread out superman style. Thalia's muscles coil tightly. She has to time this perfectly… One mistake and they're both screwed. One mistake and they're giant chow.

Three. Two. One. "Now!" She dives right off the tree branch through midair, arms triangled in front of her with her dagger at their tip. Flying right at the distracted giant like a dart. She makes contact right below its diaphragm, her momentum burying the dagger deep. Unlike a dart however her weight pulls her down, along with her dagger and it's like she's unzipping his guts.

She drops with a crouch to brace herself as the giant fumbles clumsily on his own two feet briefly then tumbles downward right on top of her! Luke's somehow closed the distance between them and he slams into her, pushing her to the ground. Just when she thinks they'll both be crushed the monster disintegrates into yellow powder and they merely get rained on by a ton of sulfurous powder. It thoroughly coats both of them and they're both pure pale yellow.

Thalia coughs and sneezes, wiping her face over and over. Nearby, something else falls onto the ground; a set of giant pearly white dentures. Their trophy…what they hell are they going to do with TEETH? "Aw gross!"

Luke shakes off the powder as he kneels back up, getting off of her. "I second that."

On his face was a hard grimace and Thalia reflected that he probably further aggravated his wounds. Just to save her stupid ass.

He caught her looking at him. "Don't worry. I still have some ambrosia left. Spoils from my last fight."

Thalia regarded him oddly. "Ambrosia…" She parroted, the word sounding foreign in her mouth.

Luke smirks knowingly although his face is still clenched a little. "You've never had it?"

Thalia gives a light shake of her head. She's caught between being intrigued and annoyed. There he goes with that condescending shit again, like he's better than her.

She follows him back to where his bag lays next to the boulder. He gestures for her to unzip it for him (which she does without complaining; he's injured and she doesn't feel like being a bitch to him till he's better. Besides leaning over will further aggravate his injuries and possibly even make them worse.) He directs her to a Tupperware full of pale jelly cubes.

"Give me half of one." Luke directs from where he leans against the boulder. She complies, slicing a cube in half with her sharp nails and passing it off before taking the other half and sniffing it curiously. It's the consistency of grainy Jell-o in between her fingers and it smells lightly like lemons. Luke catches her looking and frowns. "Be careful. You shouldn't eat any of it unless you're hurt. It's…risky."

"How do you mean?" Thalia quirks a brow. How can food be dangerous? Much less this little goopy thing in her fingers. It's just food. Unless it's poisoned or spoiled the most it should give you is a little case of indigestion, right?

"Oh, it'll just incinerate you." …or not. She gave him a look. Was he kidding? No, he looked deadly serious. Emphasis on the deadly part. It still sounded ridiculous yet…Thalia didn't doubt him. For some reason she couldn't put her finger on, she just knew what he was saying was true.

"Then why are you eating it?" Thalia reflexively drops the cube back in the Tupperware like it burnt her.

"Ambrosia is useful in moderation." Luke started, rolling the split cube in between his fingers. "It can heal minor injury and most, though not all, major ones too. But the catch is, eat too much of it and you die. Painfully."

"So I gathered." Thalia set the container back in the bag.

Luke hesitated, the ambrosia cube a couple inches away from his lips. "Ugh, this is going to be pretty bad. Can you help me back up? It'd be better if I were standing."

Thalia wonders for a moment what the ambrosia cubes taste like as she helps him standing. She thinks they must taste a little like cough syrup with the way he's scowling at the cube.

But as soon as it passes his lips and he swallows, she realizes the real reason why as his broken ribs crunch back into place, each one eliciting a pained gasp from him. That's all that's on his face right now; pain. No, more like agony.

"You okay?" She asks idly. They both know the question didn't even need to be asked; the answer was obvious.

"No, but I will be. Normally ambrosia's actually very pleasant to eat. But with broken bones it tends to h broken bones it tends to hurt a bit. " He answers, experimentally flexing his newly-repaired chest. All of the sudden, he lets out a short laugh.

"What?" What could possibly be funny?

"It's just, I think this is the first conversation we've had where you haven't insulted or screamed at me. I should get hurt more often." Thalia opens her mouth to retort but something stops her. Maybe it's the little whisper in the back of her head…the one that acknowledges that he got hurt. That he tried to protect her when the giant was falling earlier when he could have just as easily saved his own skin. So instead she just shrugs like it's no big deal, covering her reaction with nonchalance.

"Perhaps." She answers. Then she frowns. "I suppose you want this back." She says, grasping her dagger by the tang of the blade and holding out the handle for him to take. It went against everything she believed in to give her weapon away like this, but she still felt inclined to stick with their deal.

Something about fighting with him tonight had changed something. She'd gained respect for him. She wasn't quite as inclined to just run off at the earliest date possible. Not after he put himself at risk on her account. Not when he'd hurt himself further after being injured because of her.

Luke regarded her for a moment. "Keep it. You're damn handy with that dagger."

Thalia shook her head. "That wasn't our deal. I take it from you without a weapon or trickery, I keep it. Remember?"

Luke chuckled. "I never thought YOU'D be the one being such a stickler to that deal but fine by me. You're sure?" He paused his hand and watched her carefully. She nodded slightly and he took the dagger back. He had that look again. The one that really ticked her off. Smug, like she'd done exactly what he'd wanted. What he'd expected.

"Hey don't make this out to be something it's not. I still don't like you." Thalia said bluntly. And then she swallowed her pride. "But I do trust you. Gods help me I trust you."

"And I don't like you either." Luke answered with a slow nod. "But I respect you. And I trust you too."

"Good. Let's keep it that way. This is a partnership out of need, not want. The moment you become more trouble than you're worth to me I'm gone. I'll split so fast your head'll spin."

"Alright. Thanks for all the happy talk." Luke says cheekily. "It's great to know where we stand. Now if you don't excuse me, it's your shift and I'm going to bed." Luke started to get up and walk away.

"Hey! It was still your shift! You woke me up prematurely!" Thalia protests.

"Yeah, but now it's your shift." Luke says.

"But-"

"Too bad, so sad."

…Thalia really hates him.

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><p><strong>Until Next time,<strong>

**~Crisi**


	4. Thief

**This went a completely different direction than I'd intended but hey, I guess Luke wanted to avoid that emotional crap for at least another chapter. I suppose the plot point is better analyzed from Thalia's POV anyways. So not much action here.**

**Enough from me.  
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**Disclaimer: I don't own this. Plain and simple. Inevitability is just me playing with Rick Riordan's characters and I'm not getting paid to write this. Heck if anything I'm losing time writing this when I should be packing for my flight that leaves tomorrow. XD  
><strong>

**Enjoy!**

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><p>Luke readjusts his pack between his shoulder blades. They're a little achy today, he muses absently. He guesses that no amount of ambrosia will ever completely some wounds; just as no amount of time shall heal others. At any rate he doesn't dare take any more. He was never exactly given instructions on how much was okay to take and he didn't want to risk it. He wasn't exactly eager to become a mound of charcoal thank-you-very-much.<p>

It's been a couple days since their run in with the giants. Luke finally managed to convince Thalia the giant's teeth they collected may come in handy; so they stripped them of the giant jawbone and split them between their packs. And Hades, he'd never have guessed they'd be so heavy! Or sharp, he reflects as he shifts again to make the one poking into his back ease up.

Things between him and Thalia are significantly better than they were. They're…well he wouldn't say they're friends or even truly allies. She still glares at him resentfully here and there and he still occasionally goes out of his way to annoy her.

Hey, don't look at him like that. She makes it too damn easy. It doesn't help that her reactions to his taunts, while volatile and sometimes painful to her, are so entertaining. He doesn't even know exactly what it is about seeing her get flustered that is so funny. Maybe it's that he just wants her to show some kind of emotion. She doesn't often otherwise. There was a twinge of pity and sympathy when he got hurt the other day but otherwise it's either hostility or nothing at all. She's too guarded still for him to say he enjoys her company.

Maybe if she gave him a few more smiles or spoke in a tone that wasn't quite so frigid he wouldn't feel the need to be obnoxious. But it's her call. He can pull of the annoying douche bag for as long as she wants to be so distant.

Then again, maybe it's better this way. If she gets herself killed he won't miss her. Perhaps that's her reasoning toward him as well.

"So…what do you want to do about dinner?" He starts as they near a suburb. It's getting late and his stomach is growling. He hasn't eaten anything since that melted candy bar that morning and they'd split that. He's thankful they aren't in the middle of no where and that there's a drug store spitting distance from where they're standing on the corner under the watchful light of a streetlamp.

Thalia digs around in her jean pockets and pulls out the fabric out. Empty. "Got nothing here."

"Me either…" He'd been on the run for quite some time now. The money he'd stolen from his mother's wallet before leaving had long since run dry. Luke jerks his head toward the pharmacy. "Guess that only leaves one option."

Thalia's brow pinches in for a moment before she catches on to what he's implying. "No. Just no."

Luke purses his lips. "Come on. Don't tell me you've never lifted anything before." Thalia says nothing, neither confirming nor denying his statement. But her glare does the talking for her. Luke laughs. "You haven't? Really now. How on earth have you survived?"

"Shut up. We aren't stealing." Thalia says firmly. Luke can't help but look her over again. He'd assumed she'd been on the road for quite a while. It had taken him nearly a year to get a hold of any celestial bronze. Even longer to figure out how to fight with a weapon. And he knew his technique still had a lot to be desired, but that she'd been able to keep pace with him at all made him assume she'd at least had a few years on her own under her belt.

"You haven't been on your own long, have you?" Luke asked, tone sympathetic. She suddenly made a lot more sense to him. He remembered how wild he'd been his first year on his own. How terrified. How many times he'd almost turned around and headed home despite knowing how things were there.

She looked like she was going to deny it, her inner fury evident in the way her eyes had narrowed. But then she looked down, off-balance and looking every part the scared kid he now knew she was. "Three and a half months…" She said softly.

Luke nodded. "Look, I know it's wrong to steal, but you do what you have to out here to survive. I don't know about you but I don't want to be sent back home. Which is exactly what will happen if we try to go to a food shelf or anywhere like that."

Luke knew from experience. When his money ran out after the first year, he'd tried. He couldn't quite convince himself to take anything from the grocery store down the block. An overbearing, warm-faced woman working at the food shelf had gushed over him and pressed to know where his parents were. His half-hearted answers hadn't been enough to fool her and she'd been about to call the cops to report him a runaway. Fortunately for him, she hadn't been expecting him to be anything more than a flighty child. He managed to pry himself free of her and disappeared before the cops could show.

An hour later he made off with several peaches and a juice box from the grocery store. It had been far too easy; put on a sweet face and act casual. It came to him easily, but that really shouldn't have surprised him. After all, his father was the god of thieves. Theives were always shifty-eyed teenagers and scruffy old men who got all fidgety. Luke was inconspicuous. He always traveled close to another shopper. No one ever questioned him, assuming he was someone's child; he had gotten skilled at blending into the crowd. And he didn't confine himself to only stealing from the stores, although he'd never gone so far as to break into someone's home or rob them directly or armed.

On a few occasions he'd even managed to steal an entire grocery bag from an inattentive shopper or a few bills from an unwatched purse; though he tried to avoid people who looked harried enough. Cloths were obtained by slipping into a dressing room with hidden items. He always made sure he brought in far more cloths than he took and wore his items out underneath the cloths he wore in.

All this, however, did not mean he was proud of stealing. Maybe he'd got a slight thrill the first dozen times or so, but he no longer got a buzz from it. It was just something he knew he had to do to survive. If he could get a job or heck if he could stick around in one place longer than a week, he would never…okay maybe he would very rarely…steal. Given a choice between going hungry and doing something immoral such as shoplifting, he would always chose the latter. Besides, it wasn't as if he was doing something even nastier, like selling drugs or his body. If he happened into some money, he would make his purchases authentically.

"Look. I'll do all the hard work. All you have to do is keep the cashier busy. Go in and ask him something about one of the products or something. All I need is a few seconds distraction."

"And what, exactly, am I supposed to ask him?" Thalia asked, her tone borderline nasty. Luke frowned. The lack of commitment and skepticism etched on her face made him worry a twinge. She'd be in the perfect position to sell him out here. And what better way to give him the slip and be rid of him forever than to get a pair of uniforms to put him behind bars. He supposed he might be putting too much faith in someone he really only just met. Maybe he really should just pull this on his own.

"Figure it out." He drew her dagger from where he had it concealed. "Look, if I go down for this, you'll be defenseless. I'm sure they're not going to give you this back. It's not like we're committing armed robbery here. Just a couple bags of chips and waters."

"Just the bag of chips." Thalia bargained. "You got a pot in your backpack, don't you? There's that stream we crossed a while back. We can boil water from there. No need to steal more than we 'need.'" She said it like that. Like she had another way of getting food if this failed. Which, he supposed given her savage idea of catching and killing rabbits and squirrels, she probably did.

"Fine. Just the chips." He put the dagger away, then smirked obnoxiously. "You're actually kind of a goodie two shoes, aren't you? For all your badass act, that's all it is. An act."

Thalia scowled and Luke only smiled wider. She stormed off across the street, giving him the cold shoulder. Luke followed, knowing that he would likely pay for that comment later. Actually, that was kind of an admirable trait. Despite all that she'd seen and been through, Thalia was surprisingly pure. Unwilling to let herself to become corrupt.

He frowned. She shouldn't have to live like this. This lifestyle…it wasn't for her. One that was forced onto her. Was forced onto him too, but at least he'd had a good teacher to help him out. And it would probably be the death of them both.

* * *

><p><strong>Seem a little incomplete? Well I did originally intend for it to be longer, but the actual heist itself isn't much. If I get enough requests I might include it next chapter, otherwise I'm satisfied with it as is. Mostly, in any case.<strong>

**Until next time,  
><strong>

**~Crisi  
><strong>


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